FORT MYERS, Fla. – Former FGCU great Pete Woodworth has been named Baseball America’s 2022 MLB Coach of the Year, the publication announced.
“I think it is one of the highest awards that has been given to an alumni of FGCU, and what an honor for Pete,” said FGCU head baseball coach Dave Tollett. “To be named Pitching Coach of the Year is like (former FGCU great) Chris Sale being named to the All-Star team. Pete is the best of the best. It is a huge accomplishment for him, and we are very proud of him . He was a great player and coach for us, and a friend to us. We are ecstatic for him and his family, because we know how hard he works.”
While at FGCU, Woodworth compiled a 4.59 ERA for his career and posted a 25-9 record, making 39 starts and appearing in 61 games. In his senior season he collected a 9-2 record on a staff that included National Player of the Year and now three-time MLB All-Star Chris Sale. He struck out 67 batters that season and 261 overall while walking just 108.
A 2010 graduate, Woodworth was an assistant on Tollett’s staff after graduation from 2014-16. He then joined the Mariners organization in 2016 and ascended through Seattle’s farm system, from Low-A Clinton to High-A Modesto to Double-A Arkansas. Woodworth, 34, has been the Mariners’ big-league pitching coach for three seasons.
Woodworth’s pitching staff propelled Seattle to a 90-win campaign and its first playoff appearance since 2001. The Mariners posted the eighth-best ERA (3.59) in the majors, including the fifth-best (3.39) after June 1.
“He’s an elite coach,” Mariners farm director and major league coach Andy McKay said to Baseball America. “His ability to connect with players and communicate in ways that allow them to improve quickly is uncanny. Pete has done an amazing job of taking advantage of every resource available within our organization, and then funneling that all down into simple, digestible information that players can absorb and take action on quickly.”
Seattle boasted aces Robbie Ray and Luis Castillo, and also got key contributions from young starters like Logan Gilbert and George Kirby and high-leverage relievers Andres Muñoz and Matt Brash, both trade acquisitions.
Woodworth and the Mariners have been leaders in pitching development in recent years, most notably with an offseason “Gas Camp” that boosts velocity.
“We were building bigger and better machines in the minor leagues,” Woodworth told the publication. “And then as they transitioned through the upper levels . . . our (coaches) in Double-A and Triple-A were phenomenal in preparing guys for the test that is the big leagues.”
Woodworth is also quick to praise catcher Cal Raleigh and the impact he’s had on Seattle’s pitching staff.
“The voice started coming from the guy calling the pitches, and I thought that was huge,” Woodworth said. “It just instills more and more confidence in your pitchers. It’s one voice. It’s one message.”
COACH TOLLETT
FGCU coach Dave Tollett currently owns a 671-407-3 overall record (.623) and a 226-128 (.641) record in the ASUN. He is the only head coach in the program’s history and led the program to its first trip to the NCAA Tournament in 2017. He is a five-time ASUN Coach of the Year and has guided the Green and Blue to five ASUN Regular Season Championships and one ASUN Tournament Championship. His team has been ranked nationally on several occasions, including as high as No. 9 in the country in 2017, and has coached 58 all-conference selections, 33 draft picks, three current major leaguers, 13 current minor leaguers, four ASUN Pitchers of the Year, four All-Americans, three ASUN Players of the Year, one National Freshman Player of the Year, one National Player of the Year and one seven-time MLB All-Star.
EAGLE CAMPAIGN
IT TAKES A TEAM to achieve our newest goal – a $10 million campaign to address student-athlete needs in continued academic success, life skills, mental health, nutrition, and strength and conditioning as well as departmental needs in facility expansion and improvement as well as mentoring and leadership training for coaches and staff. The name embodies our mission and the purpose of the EAGLE Campaign – Eagle Athletics Generating Lifetime Excellence. Join Our Team and pledge your gift today to help the Eagles of tomorrow!
#FEEDFGCU
FGCU Athletics sponsors events in November and April to benefit the FGCU Campus Food Pantry (https://www.fgcu.edu/adminservices/foodpantry) and the Harry Chapin Food Bank (www.harrychapinfoodbank.org), FGCU Athletics’ charities of choice . For more information, including how to make a contribution, please visit https://www.fgcu.edu/adminservices/foodpantry and use the hashtag #FeedFGCU to help raise awareness.
ABOUT FGCU
FGCU teams have combined to win an incredible 94 conference regular season and tournament titles in just 15-plus seasons at the Division I level. Additionally, in just 11-plus seasons of DI postseason eligibility, the Eagles have had a combined 47 teams or individuals compete in NCAA championships. In 2022, the men’s golf team became the first program to earn an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament. Eight FGCU programs have earned a top-25 national ranking in their respective sport – including women’s basketball (No. 20, 2021-22), beach volleyball (No. 20, 2022) and both men’s soccer (2018, 2019) and women’s soccer (2018) as four of the most recent. In 2016-17, the Green & Blue posted a department-best sixth-place finish in the DI-AAA Learfield Directors’ Cup and top-100 showing nationally, ahead of several Power-5 and FBS institutions. In 2018-19, the Eagles had an ASUN and state of Florida best seven teams earn the NCAA’s Public Recognition Award for their Academic Progress Rate in their sport. FGCU also collectively earned a record 3.50 GPA in the classroom in the fall 2020 semester and has outperformed the general University undergraduate population for 26 consecutive semesters. The past six semesters (Fall 2019 – Spring 2022) saw another milestone reached as all 15 programs achieved a 3.0-or-higher cumulative team GPA. The Eagles also served an all-time high 7,200 volunteer hours in 2017 – being recognized as one of two runners-up for the inaugural NACDA Community Service Award presented by the Fiesta Bowl.
—FGCUATHLETICS.COM—